Theresa May's team blamed for her conference speech coughing fit

After her shambolic conference speech, the blame game over Theresa May’s appearance at Tory conference yesterday has started.

The Prime Minister was handed a P45 by prankster Simon Brodkin and suffered a coughing fit as she gave her keynote speech in Manchester.

Headlines in newspapers this morning labelled it a “farce” – and now Mrs May’s team are being blamed for overloading her schedule in the days leading up to the speech, according to The Times.

MPs told the paper that the Prime Minister’s aides should not have allowed her diary to get so packed when she was already suffering with a “conference cold”.

However, a Downing Street source said that Mrs May’s schedule was a “fact of conference”, adding: “It’s similar to what she did last year.”

The Prime Minister had been hoping for something of a relaunch at Tory conference after she suffered a blow to her leadership when she lost her majority in June’s election.

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She began her speech by accepting responsibility for the Conservative Party’s General Election campaign, conceding that it was “too presidential”.

However, the speech quickly descended into chaos when she was handed a P45 by comedian Brodkin and she began struggling to speak.

Lettering behind the Prime Minister also started falling to the floor and the speech has now reportedly made Tories question whether Mrs May should quit.

Katie Perrior, Mrs May’s former director of communications, told BBC Two’s Daily Politics: “My heart is in my hands really.

“I like her more than I ever did. You shouldn’t be in a situation where you feel sorry for someone and I feel desperately sorry for Theresa May right now.

“She does not deserve this.”